Out of the Shadows
by Lily II
Summary: Rose Weasley has been living in the shadow of her family for years. But when she goes to Hogwarts, she has the opportunity to choose her own path. Will Rose manage to go against tradition, disapproval, and expectations to finally become a person in her own right?
1. Chapter 1

"I'm definitely going to be in Gryffindor, no question."

"What, you mean you think that you could get Sorted into anything else?"

"Hmmm, Hufflepuff might not actually be too bad, but…"

"If you're not in Gryffindor, we'll disinherit you, but no pressure."

"Ron!"

Lily and Hugo laugh at the look on Dad's face when Mum tells him off for teasing them, but I say nothing. I don't think he's serious, but you never know. I cast a glance at Albus, who is looking just as serious as I feel. What if we aren't Sorted into Gryffindor? Almost everyone in the Weasley family has been Gryffindor for centuries. It's practically a tradition. In fact, just being a Weasley has probably guaranteed me a spot among the scarlet-and-gold students.

I frown, scuffing my shoes on the platform. People are always assuming things based on who my parents are. "Oh, you're Hermione Granger's daughter, you must be so clever!" "Oh, you're a Weasley? You must be really brave." "It must be fun, having your parents." Yeah, right. Don't get me wrong, I love my family, but sometimes, I wish people would look further than my last name. I want them to get to know me because of me, not because of my relatives.

"So that's little Scorpius," Dad says under his breath. "Make sure you beat him in every test, Rosie. Thank God you inherited your mother's brains."

Oh great, here we go again. Yes, I am clever, but can we not make such a big deal about it? And I wish he would stop calling me Rosie. It was nice when I was five, but now that I'm starting Hogwarts, he could maybe use my real name, Rose.

"Ron, for heaven's sake," Mum says, with her honestly-you're-so-irritating-but-I-love-you-anyway voice. She uses it with Dad a lot. "Don't try to turn them against each other before they've even started school!"

Dad apologizes, but I hear him mutter, "Don't get too friendly with him, Rosie." Seriously, what is it with him not being able to use my name? "Granddad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pure-blood."

Aside from the minor factor that most of our family branches are pure-blood, maybe he has a point. Not that I'm thinking of getting married yet, I'm only eleven. I follow his line of sight to see who it is that my father is telling his eleven-year-old not to get married to. Through the shifting clouds of steam, I see a boy, about my height, blond. At that moment, he turns and looks directly at me with the same undisguised curiosity, I'm sure, that I have on my face. He turns away again, but not before I have time to notice a small smirk flit across his face.

I'm drawn back into the present by Uncle Harry warning us to get on the train. I lift my trunk on, and give Mum, Dad, and Hugo a hug. I might not appreciate all the attention that comes with my family, but I love them just the same.

James jumps on board and darts off down the corridor, completely ignoring me. Seeing as he's done so ever since he started Hogwarts two years ago, I'm not really surprised. Why would a third-year want anything to do with a first-year, after all? Never mind. I don't need to hang onto my cousins. I can make my own way. Although if I ever wanted to, I have plenty of cousins to choose from. Victoire is in seventh year, Dominique in fifth, Fred and Roxanne in fourth, James in third, and Louis in second. Molly won't be at Hogwarts until next year, Hugo and Lily the year after, and Lucy in three years, but it still feels like a lot. Yes, I have a big family.

The whistle blows, and the doors begin to close. Al quickly gets in, and we lean out of the carriage window to wave. All around us, people are looking in our direction.

"Why are they all staring?" Albus asks, looking around.

I barely suppress the urge to roll my eyes. You'd think, being the son of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley, he'd have realized by now that everyone knows about us, but he somehow still hasn't twigged, despite everything he's heard about the Second Wizarding War. Sometimes I worry about my cousin.

"Don't let it worry you," Dad says. "It's me. I'm extremely famous."

Al and I laugh. Dad's being silly again, but there is an element of truth in his words. I gulp slightly, wondering how much attention I'm going to get at Hogwarts because of who I am. Or, more accurately, because of who my parents are.

The train begins to move, and I lean out to wave to Hugo and Lily. Uncle Harry walks along with us, waving until we exit the station.

I bring my head back inside the train. Al taps me on the shoulder.

"I'll see you later, Rose, alright? I said I'd meet Lorcan and Lysander."

I nod. Al's been best friends with the Scamander twins ever since the three of them met as babies. I should have expected this, but I still feel a little funny as I watch Albus walk off down the corridor.

I pick up the end of my trunk and begin to haul it down the train, looking for somewhere to sit. Finally, I find an empty compartment. I was beginning to think that I would have to go in one of the half-full ones, and endure stares and questions for the rest of the journey as soon as I tell the other students my name. I have just settled down with a book when the compartment door slides open.

"Is anyone sitting there? I can't find anywhere else."

I look up. It's the blond boy I saw in the station.

"Feel free," I say, and turn back to my book. I'm reading The Lord of the Rings for the fifth time. My copy is really old, since it used to be my mother's when she was little, but I love it anyway.

The boy comes into the compartment and heaves his trunk into the overhead luggage rack. He sits down across from me, and looks out the window. Then he turns back to me.

"I'm Scorpius."

"I know," I say, still reading. "My dad told me to stay away from you. I'm Rose."

"I know," he says. "My dad told me to stay away from you."

I look up. He sends me a challenging look. I put the book aside and hold out my hand.

"Nice to meet you. I won't mention your family if you don't mention mine."

He frowns. "Why?"

"Because I'm sick of people judging me by my last name."

He nods. "I see. Nice to meet you too." He shakes my hand.

I pick up my book and have just begun reading again when the compartment door opens. It's Louis, Uncle Bill's youngest son.

"Hi, Rose. You alright?"

"Hi. Yes, I'm fine."

"Well, if you need anything, come find me," he says. He casts a curious glance at Scorpius, and exits the compartment.

Louis is the nicest one of my cousins, I think. Not that the others are mean or anything, but he's the only one in Hufflepuff. It shows.

I finally find my place, just before the door opens again. "Anything from the trolley, dears?"

I sigh and put the book aside. At this rate, I'm not going to finish the chapter before Christmas.

I pull out my purse and buy some Chocolate Frogs, Sugar Quills, Cauldron Cakes, Every Flavour Beans, and my all-time favourite, Peppermint Pockets. They're a hard shell of peppermint candy, filled with creamy white nougat and peppermint cream at the centre. And they taste heavenly.

Scorpius brushes past me as I sit back down, and I nearly lose my balance.

"Watch it," I say, frowning at him. "I may not discriminate against people for their last names, but I do discriminate against people who make me drop my Chocolate Frogs."

He chuckles. "Sorry."

We pass the rest of the journey in silence, broken only by the rustle of turning pages. I'm reading, and he is writing in a notebook. I would say it looks like a diary or journal of some sort, but I don't ask.

The sky slowly darkens as we travel further north. The lamps in the carriages go on. Eventually, the train starts to slow down. A voice echoes through the corridors.

"We will shortly be arriving at Hogsmeade station. Please leave your trunks on the train. They will be taken up to the school separately."

I close my book, put it away, and move over to the window. I can't see much, but I catch a glimpse of several houses and winding lanes with mountains behind them.

The train comes to a stop. I go out into the corridor and make my way out onto the platform, trying not to get squished by all the students around me.

"Firs' years, over here! Firs' years, this way!"

I thankfully make my way through the crowd to where I can see Hagrid beckoning. He's nearly ninety and has retired from teaching and gamekeeping, but he still holds the position of Keeper of the Keys, and as such is the first-years' escort across the lake. I grin up at him as I manage to reach his side.

"Hello, Hagrid."

"'ello, there, Rose. How's your family? Mum and Dad doin' alright?"

"They all send their love.."

"Is everyone here?" Hagrid asks, looking out over the crowd of students. "Right then, foller me."

He leads us down a path through a forest, with thick undergrowth on either side. I shudder as I peer into the trees. I would not want to get lost in there.

"You'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid calls.

We round a bend in the path, and find ourselves facing a lake. I raise my gaze to the other side, and gasp as the sight of the castle meets my eye. Hogwarts rises majestically above us, towers and turrets lit from within. I shudder again slightly, this time with excitement. I almost can't believe that I'm finally here.

Hagrid leads us down to the waters edge, where little wooden boats are lined up. "No more'n four to a boat," he calls.

I climb into the closest one, and am quickly followed by two girls who look identical, and a stocky black-haired boy. On our journey across the lake, we introduce ourselves. The girls are called Rachael and Ella Thomas, and the boy is Henry Macmillan.

We approach the cliff on which the school is built.

"Mind your heads," Hagrid calls from the foremost boat.

We duck, and the boats enter a tunnel. It goes on for quite a while, and I am sure that we're going under the castle itself. At last, we reach a small beach, and clamber out of our boats. We follow Hagrid up a winding tunnel that comes out to the left of the front entrance.

Hagrid climbs the steps and knocks on the door. I wiggle my way through the group to the front, eager to get my first glimpse of what will be my home for the next seven years.

The large doors are opened by a tall man with brown hair, who I recognize. I have to bite my tongue so as not to greet him in front of the others. Neville Longbottom and his wife, Hannah, are frequent visitors at our house during the holidays, but at school he's my teacher.

Neville—Professor Longbottom, I remind myself sternly—leads us through the Entrance Hall, which is huge. Mum and Dad really weren't exaggerating when they told me you could fit Uncle Percy's entire house inside. We follow Professor Longbottom into a room off the side, where he gives us the standard beginning-of-the-year talk about the houses and all that. I've heard about it from my parents, so I let my attention wander.

I notice Scorpius standing over by the wall, looking just as bored as I feel. He looks back at me, and raises an eyebrow. I nearly giggle at the look on his face, but stop in time.

Professor Longbottom exits the room, returning a short while later. He takes us across the Entrance Hall, past the marble staircase that leads to the upper floors, and through a pair of doors that lead into the Great Hall.

I don't know where to look first: at the enchanted ceiling, at the four house tables lined with chattering students, at the High Table where all the teachers sit... Hogwarts is even better than I imagined it to be.

We reach the front of the hall, and shuffle into a line of sorts. Professor Longbottom walks up to a stool, on which sits a frayed hat, the Sorting Hat, which I've heard so much about. The hall falls silent. Then a rip near the Hat's brim opens and it begins to sing:

 _Centuries of knowledge are_

 _Embedded in these walls._

 _Memories of years of students_

 _Live inside our halls._

 _Now the heritage of our school_

 _Is passed on down to you._

 _I urge you, like the founders four,_

 _Be cunning, brave, wise, and true._

 _Come sit up here and try me on;_

 _I'll look inside your mind_

 _And sort you into houses,_

 _According to what I find._

 _If you are brave and daring_

 _When facing any foe,_

 _Courageous and chivalrous,_

 _Then in Gryffindor you'll go._

 _If you are kind and trustworthy,_

 _Friendly, too, and just,_

 _Or if you suit no other house_

 _Then join Hufflepuff you must._

 _If you forge a path with your cunning around_

 _Whatever stands in your way,_

 _Or wish to stick out from the crowd,_

 _Then Slytherin is where you'll stay._

 _And lastly, if you're smart or clever,_

 _Breeze through all your tests,_

 _Studious and intellectual,_

 _Then Ravenclaw is best._

 _But though the houses all differ,_

 _And you study separately,_

 _Remember, all to stick together._

 _United you must be._

 _For if you judge people by their house_

 _As has happened in the past,_

 _Then discord will destroy the school_

 _The founders built to last._

 _Though every year I must divide,_

 _I ask you to unite._

 _Now come get Sorted, put me on,_

 _And choose what you feel is right._

The hall bursts into applause as the Hat finishes. Professor Longbottom steps forward, holding a scroll. He looks around at us.

"When I call your name, please come sit on the stool and put the hat on." He unrolls the scroll. "Abercrombie, Emilia!"

A tall girl with long brown hair walks forward and puts on the Hat. She scarcely has time to sit down before it bellows, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Emilia takes the Hat off and hurries across to the Gryffindor table, looking very pleased. I glance over to where I can see all seven of my Gryffindor cousins cheering the new arrival. I bite my lip, wondering if I'll be sitting there by the end of the evening, just like everyone else.

"Bradley, Simon!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Bulstrode, Elizabeth!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Carmichael, Maddy!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

I let my attention wander as Professor Longbottom moves on down the list. I'm starting to get hungry. I can't wait for the Sorting to be over and the feast to start.

"Macmillan, Henry!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Malfoy, Scorpius!"

I look up again as Scorpius walks up to the platform and takes a seat. I can't help wondering where he'll be Sorted. All Malfoys have been in Slytherin for centuries, but when we were on the train, he did say that he didn't like it when people judged him by his last name. At least, he agreed with me when I said that.

Everyone is watching the boy at the front. I hold my breath as the rip on the hat opens.

"SLYTHERIN!"

Scorpius gets up and walks over to join the Slytherin table. I watch him sit down, wondering why it took the Hat so long to Sort him if he was just going to be in Slytherin anyway. Then my attention is drawn back to Professor Longbottom.

"Nott, Veronica!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Potter, Albus!"

I watch as my cousin takes his place. The Hat only rests on his head for a few seconds.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

I smile as he bounds over to join the rest of the Weasleys. I know that he, unlike me, was desperate to follow in the footsteps of his parents.

"Richardson, Kathleen!"  
"SLYTHERIN!"

"Scamander, Lorcan!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Scamander, Lysander!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Summers, David!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Thomas, Ella!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Thomas, Rachael!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Vaisey, Adam!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Weasley, Rose!"

Finally. That's another downside of being a Weasley—you're always at the end of every line.

I step up to the platform, put on the Hat, and sit down, feeling everyone looking at me. Then I hear the hat's voice in my ear. Mum and Dad warned me about it, but it still makes me jump.

"Well, well, another Weasley. There just seems to be no end to your family."

"Yes, there are a lot of us," I mutter for what feels like the millionth time since I was old enough to say it.

The Hat chuckles. "Oh, is that a slight feeling of irritation that I sense? You don't seem too happy to be a Weasley, my dear."

"I love my family, honestly, but sometimes I wish we weren't quite so famous. Now can you just get on with it? I'm going in Gryffindor, right?"

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that, if I were you. Your parents were Gryffindors, oh yes, but you're not them."

I smile. Finally, someone—or something—that realizes that I'm a person in my own right.

"No, I don't really see you in Gryffindor," the Hat muses. "You're much too set against tradition, and don't want to follow your family. And Ravenclaw wouldn't really work for you either…"

"Thank goodness. I'm tired of everyone comparing me to my mother."

"No, there's only one House I can put you in if you truly wish to be different…are you sure about this?"

"I'm sure that I don't want to just be another Weasley, if that's what you're asking. I want to be myself, without all the popularity and expectations that come with being my parents' child. I want to choose my own life."

"Very well." The Hat bellows to the hall, nearly deafening me.

"SLYTHERIN!"

I take off the Hat and slowly walk over to the Slytherin table. Everyone seems shocked. I notice the look on Al's face as I walk in, I'm sure it seems to him, the wrong direction. The hall breaks into whispers, which are silenced again as Professor Longbottom calls out the next name.

I sit down at the Slytherin table. One of the other first-years slides over to make room for me. I'm sure that no one quite knows what to think. A Weasley, in Slytherin? But as I turn to watch the Sorting, I almost smile to myself. I think, inside, I was expecting this all along.


	2. Chapter 2

The Sorting ends with "Zabini, Caroline!" joining us at the Slytherin table. Professor Longbottom rolls up the scroll of names, and carries the Sorting Hat on its stool out of the Great Hall. An undercurrent of chatter has begun to run up and down the tables, but everyone falls silent again as Professor McGonagall, Hogwarts Headmistress, stands up.

"Good evening, everyone," she says, her eyes sweeping the hall. "To all our first years, I would like to extend a very warm welcome to Hogwarts, and we hope you'll be happy here. To our older students, welcome back. I have a few notices, but I'll start with the most important one: dinner is served." At her words, food appears on the tables, and McGonagall sits back down.

I stare at the feast in front of me, debating on what to start with first. I thought Grandma Weasley's spreads were impressive, but not even she can churn out as much as the Hogwarts House-Elves, apparently. I pile my plate high with potatoes, chicken, and some sort of creamy cheese thing which I can't quite identify but smells delicious. For a few moments, the only sounds filling the Great Hall are the sounds of hundreds of students assuaging their hunger, and then slowly the conversation level begins to rise again.

I've made it through about half the food on my plate and am not feeling quite so empty any more, so I decide that maybe it's time I tried to be social. The sooner I get to know my housemates, the better, given that I'm going to be spending the next several years living with them. With that thought in mind, I turn to the girl who's sitting next to me - Veronica, I think her name is. She has short brown hair that's just this side of straight, and when she looks at me in turn I notice how deep the blue of her eyes is. I smile tentatively at her.

"Hello."

She grins back, her slightly crooked smile lighting up her whole face. "Hello. I'm Veronica Nott."

"Rose Weasley."

She nods. "I know."

I huff, jamming my fork into a piece of chicken with a little more force than is strictly necessary. "Everyone knows. Only Weasley ever Sorted into Slytherin, no one's going to let me live this down. They'll be talking about me for years."

Veronica shrugs. "So? Let them. People want to talk about you, that's their problem."

I smile at her. "I like your way of thinking."

"So were you expecting to be Sorted into Slytherin?" Veronica asks, taking a sip of her pumpkin juice.

I pick up my own goblet, and then remember that I find pumpkin juice disgusting and hurriedly put it down again. I shrug in response to Veronica's question. "I don't know. I didn't want Gryffindor."

"Why not?"

"Too much to live up to. Just like my parents, bla bla bla, I'm tired of being compared to everyone else."

Veronica giggles. "You've definitely avoided that bit, at least. Not a Raven or Huffle, then?"

I laugh. "Not particularly. I just tried not to think about it, I guess I always figured I'd be a Gryffindor just because everyone else in the family is. But, well, here I am." I smiled half-heartedly, and then turned the conversation her direction. "What about you, were you hoping for Slytherin?"

Veronica nodded. "My family goes way back, I think we might have a couple of Ravenclaws in the more distant branches but we're mainly Slytherins. If the Hat had tried to sort me anywhere else I'd probably have tried to bribe it."

"I nearly had to do that," a girl seated across from us broke in. "Kathleen Richardson, by the way, first year like you two. Anyway, the Hat wanted to put me in Ravenclaw, but I made a strong enough case and it sent me here."

I laugh. "You argued with the Hat?"

Kathleen raised her eyebrows. "Wouldn't you? It told me it thought I'd be more challenged in Ravenclaw. I told it I needed to be in Slytherin. It relented."

I stared at her for a moment, trying to figure out this girl. She seemed a bit odd, but definitely interesting.

"Why did you need to be in Slytherin?" Veronica asked curiously.

Kathleen flicks her hair back over her shoulder. "How else am I going to achieve greatness?" She smirks at the surprised look on my face. "Don't tell me you've never considered it. You want to get somewhere, right? Be someone. Make yourself into somebody on your own," she adds, giving me a shrewd look. "Slytherin's a very… convenient house for achieving that."

I nod slowly. "I suppose it is." This girl is definitely not what I was expecting, but she has a point. I do want to be my own person, to make myself into somebody away from my family. And I know Gryffindor definitely wouldn't have led me in that direction.

We continue eating and talking, discussing the various Slytherin attributes and our own personal preferences and generally getting to know each other. By the time the last remains of dessert have vanished from the platters, I can tell that the three of us are going to become good friends.

At the head table, McGonagall stands up again, clearing her throat, and I reluctantly tear my thoughts away from the delicious peppermint fudge I've just eaten and make myself pay attention to her. The babble in the hall slowly dies away as students turn towards the headmistress.

"Now that everyone has finished our excellent meal," McGonagall says, her words falling clearly into the silence, "I have a couple of announcements I need to make before you all go off to bed. First years should note that the forest in the grounds is called the Forbidden Forest for a very good reason. It would be good for some of our older students to remember this as well." McGonagall flashes a look at someone behind me, and even though my back is to the Gryffindor table I know that James must be squirming awkwardly under her gaze. "Our caretaker, Mr. Fowl, has asked me to please remind you that no magic is permitted in the corridors at any time. Trials for the Quidditch teams will take place the second week of term. Students interested in playing for their house will please talk to Madam Robins. And now, off to bed. Sleep well!"

The silence is broken by the clatter of hundreds of students clambering off the benches and making their way down the flagstoned hall to the double doors at the end. One of the Slytherins near me, who looks to be about a fifth or sixth year, stands up, calling, "First years, this way!" Veronica and I squeeze through the crowd to get to her, and I notice Kathleen pushing her way around the end of the table to join us. When all the first years are clustered between the table and the wall, the prefect, who introduces herself as Christiana Goyle, leads us out into the Entrance Hall and down a corridor to the left of the main staircase. We go down a few flights of steps and several more corridors, and I'm getting quite bewildered by the endless stone walls and torches. How I'm going to find my way back up to the main part of the castle tomorrow, I have no idea.

We stop in front of a blank stone wall halfway down a side corridor. My heart is thumping so wildly that I'm sure the other students must be able to hear it. Dad and Uncle Harry have told me about the time they snuck into the Slytherin common-room, but I never thought that I'd be seeing it on my very first night at Hogwarts. I can't help wondering how it will compare to the stories they've told.

"Salazar!"

Christiana seems to have given the password, because a portion of the wall in front of us slides back with a grinding noise, revealing a dimly lit room. We all try to push through the entrance at once, eager to see the common room properly.

"Slow down, slow down," Christiana says, laughing. "You'll never get anywhere if you all push at once."

Veronica and I manage to squeeze our way between the other students and into the middle of the common room, and I stand still, taking a look around. It looks different to how I expected. Yes, the stone walls and the green lamps and the elaborately carved chairs are all there just as Uncle Harry described, but the green light gives the room a glow that appears more mysterious than creepy, and I definitely wasn't told about the bookshelves in the corner, or the scattered tables that already have older students clustered around them, or the thick green carpet underfoot. A fire is crackling merrily, and overall the room appears both welcoming and intriguing. I chuckle to myself. Dad and Uncle Harry were probably too busy trying not to give themselves away to actually notice what the room really looks like.

"It's gorgeous," Veronica says next to me, sounding awed.

I send her a grin. "Isn't it? I can't wait to see our dorm."

"If we have lake windows I want a bed next to one," Kathleen states firmly, appearing on my other side.

I shrug. "If you want to wake up with fish staring at you, fine by me."

Kathleen opens her mouth again, probably to say something along the lines of how if the fish want to stare at her that's their problem, not hers, but she's interrupted by Christiana.

"The dorms are down those corridors there." She indicates two entrances on the right that I hadn't noticed previously. "Boys, you're in the sixth one in the left hand corridor, girls, same on the right. Your trunks have already been taken to your dorms. Breakfast tomorrow starts at 7:30 and classes begin at 8:30. Please do try to be on time. The password to our common room, in case you didn't catch it earlier, is currently Salazar. We usually change it once a month, but we'll notify you if it gets changed. Any questions?"

No one appears to have any, and the small knot of first years slowly disperses, some drifting off to investigate the common-room, and others heading off down the corridors to their dorm. I'm starting to feel very tired from the events of the day, so I take the latter path. I count the doors until I find the sixth one, which has a small sign saying "First Years". The door creaks as I push it open, and I pause in the doorway, wondering what Dad would say if he could see me now. I'm really not looking forward to having to tell him about this tomorrow. Thankfully I won't be there when he reads the letter.

I realize that I'm still standing indecisively in the entrance and step fully into the room, looking around. The walls are made of the same stone as the common room itself, but now that I take a closer look at them I can see that they appear to be shot through with little specks of silver, or at least shiny reflective rocks that resemble silver. I'm not sure Hogwarts would use actual silver in the walls. There are five beds, two on each side and one at the end, each with a trunk at the foot and a small nightstand next to them. The green curtains on each four-poster are the same shade of emerald as the small rugs on the floor, and a door in the corner leads through to what looks like a bathroom. The room seems a bit minimalistic overall, but I like it. It's simple, has all the necessities, and makes a nice change from the overstuffed houses most of my relatives live in.

By the time I've figured out which bed has my trunk in front of it, the other girls have all arrived in the room and are trying to sort out their own. Kathleen gets an excited gleam in her eye at the discovery that her bed is the far one, which happens to be under a skylight that in the daytime is probably lit up with the greeny underwater light the lake lets in, but right now is pitch black. Veronica shudders.

"I'm glad I'm not sleeping there, I wouldn't be able to sleep for worrying about whether the glass will hold or not. Give me a bed by the door any day."

Kathleen laughs. "Of course the glass will hold, I'm sure it's magically reinforced. Anyway," she turns to the other two girls who are in the room with us, "I'm Kathleen, what are your names?"

Our dormmates are called Elizabeth Bulstrode and Caroline Zabini. I introduce myself too and smile pleasantly, but my mind is working furiously. I've heard these last names before. No one could grow up in my dad's house and not hear all about the Slytherins he went to school with. And not come away without an opinion, either. _But that's not fair,_ I tell myself firmly. _You've been going on about how you don't want people to assume things based on your last name – that goes both ways, right?_

With that in mind, I join in the chatter of the other girls as we get ready for bed. It's mainly superficial talk – where do you live, what's your Quidditch team, did you want Slytherin, the sort of things you would discuss with people when you first meet them – but there's an easy rapport in the group, and I'm fairly sure we're all going to get along. I'm not expecting it to be all sunshine and rainbows, naturally, but it's going well so far. And not a single person has commented on my family yet, apart from a brief discussion of Quidditch teams, so that's definitely a good sign.

I climb into bed with a sigh, suddenly realizing exactly how tired I am. The mattresses are wonderfully springy, and the quilts are thick and soft. I was going to try and compose my letter to Dad before going to sleep, but my brain doesn't want to think about that any more, preferring instead to speculate on exactly how awesome the next seven years are going to be. I let the chatter of the other girls wash over me, and quickly drift off to sleep, the last coherent thought I have being that I'm very glad I chose Slytherin.


	3. Chapter 3

I wake up early the next morning, despite the lack of an alarm clock. I've always been a morning person, and on this particular morning I have a bit more occupying my mind than usual. My eyes slowly wander around the room, cataloguing my surroundings: stone walls, green bed hangings, window – green hangings? I sit up quickly, all the memories of the day before coming back. Slytherin. I'm in Slytherin. What in the world is Dad going to say?

I slide my feet out from under the covers, shivering in the damp underground air, and hurry to the end of my bed to pull out my brand-new robes. Ten minutes later, I've gotten dressed and am battling with my hair. I just had to inherit Mum's curls along with Dad's hair colour – my hair will never do what I want it to, it's a struggle to even get it back in a ponytail most days. I'm considering cutting it, but I haven't asked Mum yet. She likes my hair long.

When I'm dressed, I pull a piece of parchment and my favourite quill out of my trunk and lean back against the pillows on my bed, debating what to write. "Dear Dad, please don't disinherit me"? "Dear Dad, you know I always thought I looked good in green..." Finally I decide to just make it short and to the point.

 _Dear Mum and Dad,_

 _Well, I'm finally at Hogwarts. It's just as impressive as you've always told me it would be. I can't wait for classes to start!_

 _The Sorting last night went well. Al's in Gryffindor. I'm in Slytherin. The girls in my dorm seem really nice, I especially like Kathleen and Veronica, I think we're going to be good friends._

 _Please don't get mad. I'm happy where I am, and I don't need you to do anything about it._

 _All my love,_

 _Rose_

I look back over the letter, nodding to myself. Hopefully Dad won't come up here and demand that the Hat re-Sort me or something. I wait for the ink to dry, then roll it up and tie it in a scroll. I'm just slipping my feet into my shoes to exit the dormitory when I hear a noise behind me.

I turn around to see Veronica climbing out of bed. "Good morning."

She smiles back at me. "Morning, Rose. You're up early."

I shrug. "I couldn't sleep." I wave my letter around. "I'm heading up to the Owlery, do you want to come?"

Veronica nods. "Sure, just give me a second to get dressed."

Veronica quickly finds her robes, and the two of us are just about to exit the dorm when we hear another rustling noise. Kathleen has shoved her bed hangings aside and is getting out of bed in turn, wincing as her feet hit the cold stone floor.

"You two heading upstairs?" she asks, looking from me to Veronica and back again. "Wait a moment, I'll come too. I don't fancy staying down here any longer than necessary." She shivers a bit as she hunts for her robes. "I don't suppose there's a fireplace in here, by any chance?"

I cast a quick glance around the room. "Not that I can see. Maybe we can learn a heating charm first thing."

Veronica laughs. "Or we could just ask the professors to build us a fireplace."

Kathleen rolls her eyes, pulling a comb through her hair. "Yeah, because that will work. Please, professor, could you come blow a hole in the dungeon wall for us so we don't have to freeze in the mornings?"

I giggle at the look on her face. "Heating charms it is, then. Come on, I want to find my way up to the owlery before breakfast."

The three of us head out of the dorm, still giggling at the thought of digging a fireplace into the wall, and make our way through the common-room. It's a lot quieter in comparison to the bustle of last night, with just a few students scattered here and there, yawning or talking quietly. It is only half-past seven, after all.

"So anyone know how to get out of here?" Veronica asks as we exit the sliding wall.

I shrug, turning left. "We came this way, right? It shouldn't be too hard, we just have to go up."  
It's not quite as simple as all that, but several wrong turns, dead ends, and dusty staircases later, we find ourselves in the Entrance Hall. Veronica gapes around, still trying, it seems, to take in the size of the castle, and I'm hard pressed to not join her. It truly is enormous.

"Either of you two know how to get up to the Owlery then?" Kathleen inquires.

I frown. "Not really. We can ask someone, right? There've got to be students around who can tell us where it is."

As we walk towards the entrance to the Great Hall, a couple of students come out, talking amongst themselves. I pause near them, awkwardly clearing my throat.

"Um, excuse me? I was wondering if – if you could tell us how to get to the Owlery..."

My voice trails off as one of the students turns around. It's my cousin, Fred. A quick glance at the group behind him identifies his twin Roxanne, and Louis. I look back at Fred, and gulp at the look on his face. Here it comes. I knew they weren't going to welcome my entry into Slytherin with open arms.

"What do you want?" Fred asks, frowning.

"Fred, don't talk to her like that," Roxy puts in, frowning at the harsh tone in his voice.

Fred crossed his arms. "I'll talk to her however I want. She's the one in _Slytherin_ ," he practically spat the last word out, "not me."

"It's not her fault," Roxy exclaimed. "She's eleven, for heaven's sake, cut her a little slack!"

"Uh – actually it kind of is," I said quietly, immediately wishing I hadn't spoken when Fred turned to glare at me again. I don't know why I bothered saying anything in the first place, but now that I have, I need to explain what I meant. "I, er, I asked the Hat to not put me in Gryffindor."

"You did what?" Now Fred looks personally insulted.

"Asked the Hat to not put me in Gryffindor," I repeated in an even smaller voice, looking at anywhere but my cousin's face.

Fred snorts. "You know what, I don't even want to talk to you. Come on Roxy, May, let's go."

"You go ahead," Roxy says firmly, eyeing her twin. "I'll catch up to you."

Fred gives her a look of surprise, but still stalks off in the direction of the staircase, the others trailing after them. Roxy watches them go, and then turns back to me with a smile.

"So, Rose, what was it you needed help finding?"

"I need to find the Owlery," I say, relieved that at least one of my many cousins doesn't seem to hate me. "I wanted to send a letter to Mum and Dad."

Roxy nods. "I'll walk you there, it's too complicated for me to give you directions." As we follow her up the main staircase, she looks at my two housemates, who have remained silent the entire time (although judging by the look on Kathleen's face, she was finding it difficult). "I'm Roxanne Weasley, by the way. Pleasure to meet you."

"Um, this is Veronica and Kathleen," I say hurriedly. "They're, uh, in my dorm."

The girls exchange greetings, and I let a small smile creep onto my face. Maybe this whole Slytherin-is-the-enemy thing won't be quite so bad.

"So why aren't you ignoring me?" I ask Roxy as we make our way through the twists and turns of the corridors. She's right, we would never have been able to find our way through here on our own.

Roxy looks surprised. "Why would I? You're still you. Doesn't matter what house you're in."  
"Yeah, well, that's not what Fred seems to think," I mutter. Veronica finds my hand and gives it a comforting squeeze.

Roxy snorts. "Ignore the git. Fred can be a bit of an idiot sometimes."

Kathleen giggles, and I can feel a smile on my face as well. Maybe, if I'm lucky, not everyone in my family will reject me.

Roxy takes us all the way to the owlery, where I tie my letter to a school owl and send it off. Then she walks us back down to the Great Hall.

"See you later, Rose, all right?" she says, smiling.

"Yup. Thanks a lot, Roxy."

"No problem. Oh, and if Fred says anything else, tell me and I'll punch his face."

"Okay." I laugh. At least one of my cousins is willing to stand up for me.

Veronica, Kathleen, and I walk into the Great Hall and choose seats at the end of the Slytherin table. There still aren't many students around, but it is still rather early on a Saturday morning, so I'm sure most people are taking advantage of the opportunity to sleep in before classes start. I make sure to sit down with my back to the rest of the hall, not wanting to know if any of my cousins are at breakfast yet or not. Roxy may have been accepting, but Fred certainly wasn't, and I don't want to know anybody else's reactions just yet.

We're nearly done eating when a Slytherin student sporting a prefect's badge slides onto the bench next to Veronica. She looks up, and groans.

"What do you want, Samantha?" she asks, frowning at the girl who I assume must be her sister.

"To know why you're sitting here," Samantha responds, glaring at the younger girl.

Veronica looks confused. "This is my house table, you know. It's not like I was going to go join the Ravenclaws."

Samantha huffs. "That's not what I meant. I was just wondering if Mum and Dad would approve of your company."

Veronica casts a swift glance in my direction. I look back at her. She turns and glares at her older sister, but before either of them can say anything else, Kathleen breaks in from next to me.

"I think that's absolutely none of your business. She can sit wherever she wants to. We can all go sit at the Gryffindor table if we want to, there's no rule against it."

Samantha looks a bit taken aback at the audacity of a first year, but quickly regains her composure. "Well, don't blame me when no one else in Slytherin House wants to be friends with you," she hisses at her sister, completely ignoring me and Kathleen. Then she's flounced back off down the hall before we can say anything else.

I stare at her retreating back, and then turn to look at Kathleen, who's glaring at Samantha's retreating figure as though she's plotting the best way to hide her body. "Um, thanks for that."

Kathleen shrugs. "All in a day's work. Her life, her problem. You can do whatever you want."

Veronica, meanwhile, is stabbing her porridge with her spoon as though she wanted to murder it.

"Ignore Samantha," she says, glaring at her plate. "I don't even know how we're related. And in case you're wondering, I don't care about what she said. It's not true, anyway. Look at Howard Simons. He's been in Slytherin for three years now, and no one cares that he's a Muggleborn."

"Is she always like that?" I ask.

Veronica shrugs. "She's changed since coming to school. We used to have fun together, but now she's a—" She breaks off.

Kathleen giggles. "She really is. So what are we going to do today?"

I smile at her, grateful for the change of subject. "Well, I was hoping to explore the grounds a bit, see how much we can discover. Might as well enjoy the sunshine while it lasts."

Veronica nods excitedly. "Sounds like a great plan!"

We hurriedly consume the remains of our food, and then head over to the double doors, discussing where we're going to explore first. We nearly run into a group of students who are coming in, and I recoil slightly as I realize that it's the first year Gryffindors. I catch one quick glimpse of Al's green eyes fixed on me, and then quickly turn away. I don't want to know yet what he's going to say.

"Come on, let's go find the greenhouses," I say quickly, tugging on Veronica in an effort to move us away from the door faster. She casts a curious look from me to the group who are now behind us, but says nothing.

The three of us make our way out of the Entrance Hall and down the large stone steps at the front of the castle, emerging into bright sunlight. I blink a little, waiting for my eyes to adjust from the dimmer torchlight of the interior, and then take a look around. The green lawns extend from the courtyards all the way over to the edge of the Forest, and in the distance I can see the lake shining in the sun. I take a deep breath of the fresh air, a welcome change from the slight mustiness of the dungeons, and grin broadly at Veronica and Kathleen. "I can't believe we're actually here!"

Veronica grins back just as broadly, but Kathleen has already wandered off down the lawn. She looks back at us over her shoulder. "Well, come on, you two, what are you waiting for?"

I giggle, and hurry down to join her. "Nothing. Where are we headed first, the lake?"

Kathleen nods. "Sounds good to me."

Veronica comes up behind us, her eyes still wide with wonder at the sight of the castle in the daylight. "Come on, let's go!"

We race each other down to the lake shore, collapsing in a fit of giggles at the water's edge. As we sit up, still laughing, I can feel a tiny bit of the niggling fear at the back of my mind beginning to dissolve. It doesn't matter what Dad's going to say, I feel right where I am, and I wouldn't change that for the world.


	4. Chapter 4

"So what are you looking forward to most?" Veronica asks, idly kicking her legs. She's sprawled on her stomach in the grass, picking a stray daisy to pieces.

I look over at Kathleen, who's trying to skip rocks, and then turn back to Veronica. "I don't know. Defence Against the Dark Arts. Charms. Potions. You?"

Veronica rolls onto her back, daisy forgotten. "Flying. Defence Against the Dark Arts. Doing magic in general, really. I can't wait to actually learn some real spells."

By now, Kathleen has given up on ever achieving more than two bounces and has come back over to flop down next to us. "I'm looking forward to Transfiguration," she declares, tossing a small rock she's still holding up and down. "You have a parrot, you wave your wand, poof, it's a cake!"

I giggle, narrowly avoiding her vigorous gestures. I have no desire to get knocked out by a housemate on my first day at Hogwarts, thanks. "I'm not sure I'd want to eat a cake that was once a parrot."

"My cat got turned into a parrot once," Veronica says thoughtfully. "Samantha's fault. Next summer I can get back at her, though." She smirks. "She can find out what it's like to have purple hair for a whole week."

"What's your cat's name?" I ask, idly tracing patterns in the dirt with my finger.

"Fluff. Her Royal Highness for short."

Kathleen snorts. "That's not short."

"I guess not," Veronica grins. "But it suits her. Have you two got any pets?"

I shake my head. "I keep trying to get Mum to get me an owl, but no luck yet. I was hoping that maybe I could convince them to give it to me as a congratulatory present, so to speak, for starting school and all that, but now that I'm in Slytherin..." I trail off.

Veronica pulls herself into a sitting position. "That shouldn't make a difference. You're still their daughter, right?"

I shrug, not meeting her eyes. "As far as I know, yes."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kathleen inquires.

"Only that Dad said he'd disown me if I wasn't in Gryffindor," I mumble.

Kathleen stares at me incredulously for a moment, and then bursts into laughter. "Seriously, Rose? I'm sure he didn't mean it."

"He wouldn't actually disown you, would he?" Veronica wonders. "I mean, can you even do that to an eleven-year-old?"

I shrug again. "I don't know, I've never asked."

"Why all the long faces?" someone asks from nearby.

We all look up to see another first year standing there, one of the boys who was Sorted into Slytherin with us yesterday. I frown, trying to remember his name. Andrew, or something like that?

"I'm Adam, Adam Vaisey," the boy in question announces, sitting down next to us. Ah, so not Andrew then. I was close. And you are?"

"Veronica Nott," comes a quick response from my left. I can hear the smile in Veronica's voice without needing to look in her direction. Kathleen seems a lot more suspicious though, judging by how curtly she gives him her name.

"Kathleen Richardson."

I open my mouth to introduce myself too, but he forestalls me. "And you're Rose Weasley. I noticed you last night."

I narrow my eyes at him. "It's Rose. Just Rose."

"All right then, Just Rose," Adam says cheerfully. "I thought I'd come over and introduce myself, since we're going to spend the next seven years as classmates, we might as well get to know each other, right?"

Veronica giggles. "Might as well. Where are you from, then?"

"Dorset, proud home to the Wimbourne Wasps. What about you?"

Kathleen raises her eyebrows. "Don't tell me you support the Wasps."

Adam's smile is charming, but I can see a steely look behind his eyes. "Course I do. Why, you're not an Arrows fan, are you?"

Kathleen tilted her head. "I am, as a matter of fact. Problem?"

"Not as long as you don't start firing arrows at me," Adam states.

Veronica rolls her eyes. "No one is going to fire arrows at anyone, okay? We can't even figure out how to cast a spell to warm our dorm up – "

"So we weren't the only ones who were freezing last night," Adam interrupts in a satisfied tone. "I told Scorpius it was cold, he just kept going on about how it seemed quite warm to him in comparison to the drafts his _manor_ gets – "

"Oh, please don't let's talk about Malfoy," Veronica breaks in in turn. "New topic – um, Rose, what's your Quidditch team then?"

"Tornadoes, am I right?" Adam says, eyeing me.

I stare at him. "How did you know?"

"I saw you at the game against the Harpies last season," he explains quickly. "I remember seeing your whole family there. It was like a big Weasley outing. Ginger hair, loud mouths, the works. Almost overyone was wearing green and cheering for the Harpies. But I saw exactly one of the group wearing blue. Somehow, I have a feeling you don't enjoy conforming to your family's standards as much as the rest of them do. Were my deductions correct?"

I giggle at the self-satisfied look on his face. "Yes."

At that moment, someone comes down the slope from the castle. "Adam! Adam! Package from Mum!"

Adam looks up. "Coming, Caro," he calls back. Then he turns to the two of us. "I've got to go, but I'll see you round. Bye, Veronica, bye Kathleen. Bye, Just Rose."

We all respond in turn, and then as Adam heads back up to the castle, I turn to the other girls. "So, any particular ideas as to what to do now?"

"We could try to find our way back down to the common-room," Kathleen suggests.

Veronica jumps to her feet. "Good idea, I wanted to see if I could unpack anyway."

"And where are you going to unpack into?" I inquire as we make our way back up the lawn. "You surely can't fit everything that's in your trunk into that tiny nightstand."

Veronica shrugs. "I can move some things over, at least. Then I'll have more space to rearrange the rest of the stuff in my trunk."

"I prefer just keeping it all in one pile," I say, laughing. "I tell Mum that I always know where all my things are – they're all somewhere in that heap."

"And how do you ever find anything?" Kathleen says incredulously, climbing the steps to the doors.

I shrug. "It's all there, I just have to look. It never takes me very long to find things. Any signs of ginger people?" I add warily as we step inside.

Kathleen casts a quick look around the hall. "Not that I can see."

"Why are you so desperate to avoid your cousins, then?" Veronica asks. "You wouldn't even look at that first year one, what's his name, Albus?"

I shrug, keeping an eye on the uneven flagstones at my feet. "I just—don't know how they're going to react."

"To your House?"

I nod.

"It's like I said earlier," Veronica says determinedly, looking me in the eye. "They're your family. If they're really as loving and friendly as the media make them out, then they won't care."

"You saw Fred's reaction," I mutter, trailing one hand along the wall. "He thinks I'm a traitor."

"Fine, so one of your cousins is an idiot. Ignore him. The rest of them can't all be that thick."

I laugh involuntarily at the tone of her voice, and abandon the subject.

We wander around in the dungeons for quite a while, trying first one corridor and then another, but none of them seem to lead us to the right blank wall. By the time we reach the fourth dead end, I'm getting a bit irritated.

"You'd think they'd give us a map to this place or something," Kathleen voices my thoughts. "How are we ever supposed to find our way anywhere? Was this place originally a rabbit warren or something?"

Veronica tugs on my arm, indicating a student who's just turned out of a side corridor ahead of us. "Look, he's in Slytherin, I'm sure he can tell us where to go."

We slowly approach the student, who looks to be about a fourth or fifth year. Veronica's apparently lost her power of speech, so I step forward. "Um, excuse me?"

The boy turns, a friendly smile appearing on his face when he notices the colour of our ties. "Yes?"

"Can you tell us the way to the common-room?" Kathleen speaks up from my left.

The boy laughs. "Lost, are you? Not to worry, we all were our first year. It's just down here, second passage on the right."

I nod gratefully. "Thanks."

"No problem." Then the boy looks at me again, taking in my face. "You're Rose Weasley, aren't you?"

I cross my arms, not willing to get more looks like Samantha was giving me earlier. "I'm Rose."

The boy holds out his hand. "Howard Simons, pleased to meet you." I shake his hand, a bit bemused. "Welcome to Slytherin, and if you ever have any trouble with some of our, ah, more Pureblood members – ", he leans in closer, "then come ask me and I'll teach you this handy little spell I know that will change green and silver to red and gold. Comes in handy sometimes, especially if you add a trigger on it."

"Er, thanks?" I say, unsure of what to make of this student.

Howard winks. "I found it extremely useful my first year." Then he smiles at us all. "Well, I must be off, but have a nice day!"

I turn to the other girls as he disappears off down the corridor. "What was that all about, exactly?"

"He's a Muggleborn," Veronica explains. "First Muggleborn to be in Slytherin for the last, oh, about thirty years. I don't think he had it too easy his first couple of months."

"That charm he mentioned..." Kathleen says thoughtfully. "I wonder if you could reverse it?"

"What, turn Gryffindor colours to Slytherin?" I ask. "I guess you probably could, but why?"

Kathleen smirks. "Let me put it this way, any more of your cousins act like jerks, you can let me do the talking."

I laugh as I realize what she's getting at. "You're on."

Veronica giggles as we head down the corridor Howard pointed out. "Somehow, Kathleen, I have a feeling that I never want to get on your bad side if at all possible."

She raises her eyebrows. "Let's hope you never do." Then all three of us are laughing, the noise echoing slightly down the stone corridors.

We find the common-room easily enough now that we know where we're going. I give the password, and watch the wall slide away. I may have grown up in a magical household, but things like this still impress me. The fact that the room beyond is green instead of red, though, is still a prominent thought in my mind. I wonder nervously if Mum and Dad have gotten my owl yet.

As we step into the common-room, I catch sight of a bookshelf in the corner, and almost subconsciously drift over towards it. Veronica laughs behind me, watching me getting lost in thought as I trail my fingers along the spines.

"I take it you like books, then?"

I nod, smiling at the shelf. "I can't get enough of them. I'm looking forward to seeing the library."

"That's where we should go later," Kathleen says excitedly. "The library."

Veronica rolls her eyes. "Why are you two not in Ravenclaw, again?"

"Because I asked for Slytherin," Kathleen and I respond at the same time. Then we grin at each other.

"I didn't want anyone comparing me to my mother," I say determinedly, turning back to survey the shelves. "I get enough of that already, I was tired of everyone assuming about me."

"You've certainly blown all their assumptions out of the water now, with wearing that," Kathleen says, nodding towards my green and silver tie. "I don't think they can compare you to anyone in your family now, hmm?"

I shake my head. "Far as I know, I'm the first Weasley in green."

"You're definitely a trailblazer, that's for sure," Veronica puts in.

I look her directly in the eye. "Good. I intended to be. I'm tired of following along."

"You'll never get anywhere in life if you just keep following other people," Kathleen says firmly. "I, for example, intend to be Minister for Magic, and I won't get there by following society's expectations."

I giggle. "Minister? Really?" I can't actually tell if she's joking or not.

Kathleen shrugs. "Why not? You can be anyone you want if you set your mind to it."

We stand there in silence for a moment, looking at each other. I smile at Kathleen. "You're right. I can."

Then the spell is broken as I turn back to the bookshelf. "Would you two mind terribly if I abandoned you for a bit?"

Veronica sighs dramatically. "I knew I couldn't keep you away from the books for long. Farewell, my Rose. If and when you reappear, you'll find me waiting."

I laugh. "You're ridiculous. Go organize your teensy cupboard or whatever it was you wanted to do, I'm going to read."

Veronica sticks her tongue out at me. "I was going to do that anyway. Enjoy."

She disappears in the direction of the dorms, and I turn to Kathleen. She's running her eyes along the shelf hungrily, and as I watch, she pounces on a book lower down. "Bingo!"

I take a look at what she's holding up. " _The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes_?"

Kathleen nods in a satisfied way. "Seems I'm not the only one around here who appreciates Muggle literature. I love these books."

I shrug. "To each their own, I guess. I've never been that into mysteries, I prefer fantasy if I'm reading Muggle stuff."

Kathleen winces. "No thanks, give me a good murder mystery any day."

"Go ahead," I mutter, finally spotting a title that seems interesting. "But I'm going to go read by the fireplace."

Kathleen wanders off to find a spot with her book, and I let myself fall onto one of the sofas by the fire, opening my book and soon getting lost to the real world. The noises of the common-room around me fade away as I drift off into the pages, and I jump when someone clears their throat at the other end of the couch. I look up, blinking, to find myself face to face with the boy from the train yesterday. Scorpius Malfoy.

He nods at the book in my hand. "What are you reading?"

I'm still coming out of the world I was in, and it takes me a moment to remember how to talk. "Um, a book."

Scorpius rolls his eyes. "I can see that."

I roll my eyes right back at him. "Then why ask a question you know the answer to?"

He shrugs. "For the purpose of making conversation?"

"There are much better conversation starters than asking rhetorical questions," I challenge him, tucking my feet up under me.

"Such as?" Scorpius raises an eyebrow.

I shrug, casting around for something to say. "Good morning?"

"And what do you mean by that?" Scorpius inquires. "Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?"

I pause, closing my book properly. "All of them at once, I suppose."

Then we both laugh. "So where did you come across Muggle literature?" I enquire, turning so that I can face him properly. "You're Pureblood, right?"

Scorpius nods. "I used to sneak out to the library in the village. Never told Dad, although I think Mum figured it out after a bit. She never said anything to me, though."

I raise my eyebrows. "You snuck out to go to a Muggle library?"

Scorpius chuckles. "Go on, you must have done something of the sort yourself."

I laugh. "Well, I never had to sneak to the library. I used to try and hide whenever Mum wanted to take us, in fact. She was big on immersing us in Muggle culture. I just wanted to stay home and ride my broom. There was one place I did used to go in secret, though," I continued thoughtfully. "Whenever we went to Diagon Alley last summer I'd give Mum and Dad the slip and go down to Florean Fortescue's. I always met up with this girl called Nicole Greengrass."

"She's my cousin," Scorpius said interestedly, tucking his feet up as well so he was sitting crosslegged on the sofa, facing me.

"Really? I had no idea. I mean, I knew she was Pureblood. And I knew Dad hated the Greengrasses, for no good reason. So when I first met her last summer I did my best to get to know her. I didn't want to judge anyone by their last name, I figured I needed to know her myself."

Scorpius gives me a contemplative look. "I can understand that. What I can't understand, though," he carries on, "is why Nicole actually made friends with you – I wouldn't have thought that Uncle Thomas would let her spend time with a Pureblood."

I shrug. "I don't think I ever told her my last name. I don't think she ever told her parents where she was, either. Is she here at Hogwarts now?"

Scorpius nods. "First year like us. She was Sorted into Ravenclaw, I don't know if you noticed her last night?"

I shake my head. "To be honest, I was a bit preoccupied."

Scorpius gives a short laugh. "I'm sure you were. Were you expecting to be in Slytherin?" he asks after a moment.

I look down at the fireplace for a moment, gathering my thoughts. "Sort of. I never thought about it much, but I always knew I didn't want to be a Gryffindor. My parents were, and I'm just tired of having to live up to them all the time. Tired of being just one of the Weasleys, of having to fulfill everyone's expectations. And then the Sorting Hat told me I could choose, so..." I trail off.

There's silence for a moment. At last, Scorpius says, "Well, I don't think you're ever going to be classified as just another Weasley again, that's for sure."

I give a small giggle. "Probably not. What about you?" I inquire, looking up to meet his eyes, which are a peculiar shade of bluey-gray.

Scorpius shrugs, studying the pattern of the carpet. "I think I always knew I was going to be in Slytherin. I did have brief moments of wishing that I could maybe choose my own path. But I wasn't brave enough. The Hat did ask me. I could have been a Ravenclaw. But I was nervous about what my parents would say."

I nod, wrapping my arms around my legs. We sit there quietly for a while. Eventually, Scorpius stands up, grinning at me.

"Never mind all that. We're in Slytherin now, so we might as well make the best of it."

I smile, standing up as well. "I'm sure we will."


	5. Chapter 5

Early on Monday morning, I wake up with the sound of a bell still echoing in my ears. I give my head a small shake, trying to clear the last bits of sleep from my eyes, and look around the room. I'm slowly starting to get used to seeing the green and silver, but it's still a bit disorientating to wake up in a new place.

I pull myself out of bed and hurriedly get dressed. Classes start today, I can't wait! I pause in the act of doing my hair as I remember that I still haven't heard back from Mum and Dad. I sent the letter two days ago, it can't take that long for them to write a response, surely? They would have gotten it Saturday evening at the latest, unless the owl got blown off course…

I firmly push the thoughts of Dad's reaction to the back of my mind and continue struggling with my hair. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, I tell myself firmly, right now I have enough other things to worry about. Such as whether or not my dorm-mates are all going to be ready for class on time.

I take a quick look around the room. The other girls are all still sound asleep – Elizabeth is curled into a ball against her pillow, Veronica is sprawled half out of her bed with her hands nearly touching the ground, Caroline has one leg out from under the covers but her head is firmly out of sight, and Kathleen has, as usual, pulled her bed hangings around herself and vanished. It must get awfully dark in her bed at night, I muse. Still, I suppose she likes it that way.

I consider my sleeping friends, and smirk. They're not going to stay that way for long.

One well-aimed pillow later, Veronica has sat up and is glaring grumpily at me, covers pulled up around her ears. I smile back, ignoring the death threats shooting out of her eyes.

"Rise and shine, it's the first day of class! Get up quickly, we don't want to be late."

"I am up," Veronica mutters, leaning over to grab my pillow and trying to throw it back at me. Her attempt is a bit half-hearted, and the pillow flops to the ground midway between our beds.

I giggle, reaching forward to grab the pillow myself. "Doesn't look like it to me. Up involves actually leaving the bed." I chuck my pillow in Caroline's direction this time.

She rolls over as the pillow thumps her hard in the back. "Go away, Mum, five more minutes," she mumbles through her quilt.

I run across the room and bounce on the edge of her bed. "Come on, get up, it's a beautiful morning, the sun is shining brightly outside – " I break off and look at the skylight over Kathleen's bed. "Well, I'm sure it's shining brightly above the lake since we can see the light filtering through here – anyway, class starts today, you can't stay in bed forever!"

Caroline mutters something else unintelligible, but I'm probably glad I didn't understand her. Then she yawns broadly. "But it's ea-ea-early." She rolls over to throw my pillow back at me, and appears to have somewhat better aim than Veronica does. I duck, and the pillow lands behind me.

"No it's not, the breakfast bell's just gone. Which means we only have an hour before class starts."

"Wake me in 55 minutes," Caroline responds, and shoves her head under the blankets again.

Veronica, now out of bed and in the process of pulling on her robes, giggles. "Come on, Caro, it's the first day of school. You have to come to breakfast."

"Says who?" the other girl mutters.

Veronica looks at me, a twinkle in her eye, and then steps forward. In one swift motion she's twitched the covers off Caroline's bed. "Says me."

Caroline curls up, muttering more threats under her breath, but I help Veronica haul her out of bed. Then we turn to Elizabeth, who is eyeing us all suspiciously, having apparently been woken by our, ahem, altercation.

"Do you need any help getting up?" I ask, smiling sweetly.

Elizabeth throws the covers back in a rush. "No, no, I'm up, I'm up!"

"And before you decide to try anything on me, I'm up too," Kathleen calls from behind her curtains. She shoves them aside and climbs out of bed, slipping her feet into her purple slippers. "I claim the shower first."

And before any of the rest of us can respond, she's vanished into the bathroom with a smirk on her face.

"I hope you're not planning on doing this every day," Elizabeth mumbles half under her breath, tugging at where her robes have gotten tangled on her trunk.

"Oh, no, of course not," I reassure her, smiling innocently. "Just on, well, special occasions."

Caroline throws me a suspicious look. "And what counts as a special occasion, then?"

"Let me guess," Kathleen calls from the bathroom. "Any time we have class?"

"Excellent deduction," I call back. "Yes, any time we have class, for example."

Elizabeth's eyes widen. "Oh no you're not. I'll get myself up tomorrow, thanks. Preferably without a pillow fight."

I pout. "Why not? Pillow fights are fun."

Caroline rolls her eyes, tugging her hair back into a messy ponytail. "Nuh-uh, not happening."

I raise my eyebrows. "What's not happening? Class certainly is. In fact..." I take a look at my wristwatch, "it's happening in about 35 minutes. Now are you lot coming to breakfast or what?"

Kathleen has reappeared by this point, rubbing her hair with a towel, and Caroline disappears into the bathroom. "Don't bother waiting for me," she calls back, "I'll probably be a while."

I shrug, and head over to the door. "Right then, I'm starving. Shall we go?"

"All right, all right," Elizabeth mutters, haphazardly pulling her robes over her head. "Just give me a second."

A few moments later, the four of us are standing by the door, ready to head up, although Kathleen's hair is still rather wet. She gives it one last squeeze with her towel and then throws her towel back towards her trunk. "I can't be bothered to wait for it to dry properly, it takes way too long. Unless one of you knows a hair-drying charm?" she asks, grinning at us.

I shake my head. "No, sorry. So who reckons we can find our way up to the Great Hall without getting lost at all today?"

Veronica giggles. "Certainly not me. Let's just hope we don't end up in the Potions storeroom again."

I shudder. "Please no. If I never see another jar of pickled newts' eyes then it's too soon."

Kathleen raises an eyebrow. "You are planning on attending Potions class, right?"

I nod. "I'll just make someone else handle the newt eyes."

Kathleen rolls her eyes. "Because that's going to work. Anyways, Great Hall – we just go up, right?"

It's not quite as simple as all that, but several wrong turns and a couple of dead-end corridors later, we've managed to find our way to the Entrance Hall, and we even have more than twenty minutes to eat breakfast. The hall is rather full now compared to my mornings in the castle so far, and the babble of voices creates a pleasing undercurrent. We sit down in what is fast becoming our usual spot at the foot of the Slytherin table, discussing the upcoming lessons. I'm still adamantly declaring that I refuse to touch any animals' eyes, pickled or otherwise, when Veronica nudges me and points towards the roof.

"Look, mail's here?"

I look up apprehensively, suddenly remembering my worries from earlier. But the only owl that lands in front of me in the flurry is the one bearing the Daily Prophet. I sigh. Maybe Mum and Dad didn't get my letter, for some odd reason that I haven't quite figured out yet. It's the only explanation I can find for not having heard anything.

Then, however, Veronica nudges me again. "Um, Rose?"

I look up to follow her line of sight, and my heart sinks. There's an owl drifting into the Hall at the tail end of the flock. And it's bearing an envelope in a tell-tale red colour.

I shrink down in my seat, wondering if I have time to run out of the Hall before the owl lands in front of me. But there are too many people around, and I can already hear the whispers beginning. Wonderful.

The owl lands in front of me, dropping the envelope with a soft hoot, and I eye it nervously. I don't have long to wait.

"ROSE WEASLEY!" Dad's voice echoes around the Great Hall, and I cringe even lower as other students turn and stare. "WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME WERE YOU THINKING! YOU'RE A DISGRACE TO THIS ENTIRE FAMILY, TURNING YOUR BACK ON OUR HERITAGE AND OUR – "

"RONALD WEASLEY, I WILL NOT HAVE YOU TALK TO MY DAUGHTER LIKE THAT!"

I hide my face in my hands as Mum's voice joins the Howler. Brilliant, just brilliant. Now my parents are having a magical argument in front of the entire school. I'm never going to live this one down.

"AND GET YOUR WAND AWAY FROM THAT PAPER!" Mum's voice continues.

"I WILL NOT HAVE MY ONLY DAUGHTER IN – THAT HOUSE!" Dad screams in response.

"SHE'S MY DAUGHTER TOO, YOU GIT, AND I REFUSE TO LET YOU – "

The letter abruptly falls silent, before bursting into flames and collapsing in a heap of ash. I stare at it, feeling a bit shell-shocked. I guess Mum must have interrupted Dad in the middle of writing it. Shame she couldn't stop him sending it too.

There's silence in the hall for a moment, and then slowly the chatter picks up again. I'm still staring at the curls of papery ash on the table in front of me, Dad's voice still ringing through my head. "A disgrace to this entire family." So that's what he thinks of me. I knew I wasn't going to like his reaction, but I wasn't really expecting him to be this harsh.

"Rose, are you all right?" Veronica asks from next to me.

I look up, startled. "Yes – fine – I'll see you girls later," I gasp out, and I'm standing up and running out of the hall before anyone can stop me. Behind me, I can hear Veronica standing up to follow, but Kathleen pulls her down again with a muttered, "Let her go, she needs a bit of alone time before class, don't you think?" But I don't have time to be grateful to Kathleen, I'm just focused on finding somewhere to be by myself.

I eventually end up back on my bed in the dorm, knees up to my chest and my arms curled around them. I'm finding it a bit hard to control my breathing, so I focus on getting my heart rate back to normal before anything else. Dad didn't mean it, I tell myself. He's just upset, he wasn't thinking, he doesn't actually consider you a disgrace –

I break off sharply, catching my breath. It's all very well telling myself that I don't care what my family thinks but it appears I do after all. And now the entire school knows what my own father considers me. There's no way I'll ever be able to approach any of my cousins after this.

I'm fiercely wiping traces of moisture from my eyes when the door to the dorm creaks open, and Veronica sticks her head through. "Rose?" She sees me curled up on my bed, and comes over to me. I give her a hard look, not needing any sympathy at the moment. I just want to go on with the day and forget this all happened.

Veronica seems to have picked up on my mental signals, because she holds a sheet of parchment out to me. "Here's your timetable. Professor Parkinson was handing them out after breakfast so I grabbed yours for you, told her you'd gone to the restroom. Class starts soon, are you coming?"

I nod briefly, uncurling myself and climbing off the bed again. "Thanks."

I gather my books together wordlessly, using the time to compose myself. On top of everything else I really don't need people to see that I've been crying. Not that I was really crying, I hastily think, I just got a bit – overemotional. I'll be fine.

The other girls have all come in to collect their books now too, and I take a proper look at my timetable. Charms, Potions, Transfiguration, and Herbology. "I hope we don't have to deal with any newt eyes," I mutter aloud.

Kathleen laughs. "I'm tempted to ask the professor if we can brew a potion that uses newt eyes just because."

I send her a fake glare, swinging my book bag over my shoulder. "Very funny. Come on, let's go."

We all troop back down the hall to the common-room, and Elizabeth snags a passing third-year. "Um, excuse me, can you tell us how to find the Charms classroom?"

The third-year happens to be heading up that direction anyway, as it turns out, and we all gladly follow her through the stairways and corridors to the door she points out. "There you go, have a good lesson."

Caroline smiles at her. "Thanks."

None of us really seems to be willing to actually enter the classroom first, though, and we all giggle at each other's attempts to hang back.

"What are you all doing standing there?" a voice calls out from behind us. I turn around to see the boy who introduced himself to us at the lake. "Good morning, Veronica, good morning, Just Rose," he adds. "And you are?"

The other three girls introduce themselves quickly.

"Hi, Adam. We haven't decided who gets to go into the classroom first," I explain, laughing despite myself at how stupid it sounds.

Adam shrugs. "Well, that's easily settled. I will." He pushes the door open and marches in. We all follow on behind.

The room isn't all that big, but there are still several empty desks, and Veronica and I choose one near the front. Kathleen and Elizabeth sit down immediately behind us, and Adam thumps himself down next to Caroline in the only remaining double seat, a few rows over. We've all just settled down when the door opens again and our professor enters the room. He sits down behind the desk at the front, smiling around at us.

"Good morning, class, and welcome to Hogwarts. My name is Professor Corner, and I will be your Charms teacher for the year. Now, before we begin, I'd like to take the roll."

He begins reading out our names, pausing at each one to look up and notice which student has answered. I fiddle around with my quill, waiting for him to finally reach the W's. I steadfastly refuse to look up when I hear the quiet response to "Potter, Albus" though. I've managed to avoid Al all weekend, I don't particularly want to see him now. I don't think I could stand the look of disappointment I'm sure he must have, especially after that little scene this morning.

"Vaisey, Adam."

"Present."

"Weasley, Rose."

"Present," I say, sitting up a bit straighter as the professor's gaze falls on me. He studies me for a brief moment, and then turns back to his list.

"Zabini, Caroline."

"Present."

With that, Professor Corner rolls up the scroll and tucks it away in his desk. He turns back to us, tapping a quill against the edge of his desk.

"So. Charms. One of the easier classes Hogwarts offers, if I do say so myself. Even someone with no aptitude for Charms will almost definitely manage to at least get an A in the class. That being said, however, I must stress that it is only easy to get right if you're concentrating. Concentration and focus are the key to all branches of magic, naturally, but Charms especially have a particular affinity for going wrong. I'm sure most of you have seen someone else casting a Charm at one point or another – tell me, what do you think would happen if they weren't focusing sufficiently?"

Several hands fly up, mine among them, and the discussion is well underway. It's a highly interesting lesson, focusing on the basics of spell-casting and charms in particular, and I'm almost disappointed when I hear the bell ring. I can't wait to keep learning more on this subject.

Professor Corner shuts the book he has out and lays it aside. "Well, that concludes our first lesson of the year. Homework: read Chapter Two of the Standard Book of Spells, and explain the theory behind the Alohomora Charm. Class dismissed."

We all gather together our books and parchment, and make our way out into the corridor, which is filled with chattering students. Our next class of the day is Potions, and Veronica and I manage to find our way to the correct room without too much trouble, only having to ask for directions twice. But we just barely reach the classroom in time, and when the two of us enter there are only two spaces left – individual ones. Veronica gives me a regretful look, and then slides into a seat next to one of the Hufflepuffs – Ella, I think her name is. I take the last seat, and turn to look at my seatmate. It's Scorpius.

He gives me a small smile. "Good morning."

"Morning," I answer briefly, bending over to get my book from my bag.

"How are you?" Scorpius asks as I sit up again, his eyes flickering over my face. "I, um, heard the letter you got in the Great Hall earlier..."

"Yes, I'm sure the whole school must have heard," I snap, opening my jar of ink with a little more force than is necessary. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay," Scorpius says quietly. After a moment, he adds, "Your cousin Al was asking about you."

My head flies up. "He was? I mean, he spoke to you? I mean – "

Scorpius nods. "Said he hadn't been able to get a hold of you yet, he thinks you're avoiding him."

"He's been avoiding me too," I mutter, looking down at my desk. I know that's not true though. I look up at Scorpius again in an attempt to conceal what I'm thinking. "Why'd he ask you, anyway?"  
Scorpius shrugs. "He saw us sitting together on the train, he said, I guess he thought we were friends or something." He's trying to appear casual, but I can hear a lingering uncertainty in his voice.

"Well, we are," I say quickly. "Right?"

Scorpius smiles broadly at me, his eyes sparkling. "Of course we are."

After a moment, I say, "You can tell him – I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Scorpius asks quietly, looking at me.

I look back at him, the classroom momentarily forgotten. When I came in here, I definitely wasn't, but knowing that Al doesn't seem to hate me has changed my perspective a bit. Confirming that I've made a new friend helps too. I nod firmly.

"Yes, I am."

And in that moment, concentrating on my friends' presence and making myself not think about the Howler I received or the way Fred's been steadfastly ignoring me since that one conversation a few days back, I manage to convince myself that maybe, just maybe, it's true.


	6. Chapter 6

The rest of my first week at Hogwarts passes in a whirl of new classes, new people, and trying to find my way around the many corridors and staircases in this castle. Seriously, whoever built this place ought to have made a map while they were at it. How I'm ever going to find my way to class on time without help is beyond me.

But even though I'm rather busy trying to figure out the classes and the library and the layout of the dungeons, I still have time every so often to consider my conversation with Scorpius. I try to convince myself at first that Al has been avoiding me, that it's not my fault I haven't talked with him yet, but I just can't manage to lie that strongly. I know I've been ducking out of sight whenever I see him coming down a corridor, sitting with my back to the Gryffindor table at meals, and steadfastly ignoring looking at his side of the classroom in the few lessons Gryffindor and Slytherin share. And I also know that I can't go on like this forever.

Okay, so maybe Al and I were never the closest of friends – he was always off with the Scamander twins, and I much preferred helping Lily annoy James, but we're still cousins, and I hadn't imagined our first week at Hogwarts being marked by no interaction whatsoever. I hadn't really imagined us being in different Houses either, but that's beside the point. I know I'm going to have to talk to him at some point, but hopefully it won't be as awful as I expected it to be at first.

My dorm-mates have noticed my increased agitation through the week, and finally, at dinner on Friday, they've had enough. I'm sitting with my back to the rest of the room as usual, half-heartedly poking at my shepherd's pie, and trying not to think about the fact that earlier that day, Al had actually called my name in the corridor, and I just turned and went the other direction without even looking at him. I'm not managing to forget it very well. I know Al, I shouldn't be expecting the same reaction from him as Fred gave me, but there's still a niggling thought at the back of my mind – what if he hates me? It's illogical, of course, no one who hated me would have actually sought out Scorpius to ask how I was doing, but I still can't help worrying. I thought it would be easier to just ignore him. The way my thoughts are chasing each other round and round, however, is completely negating that statement.

"So what do you think, Rose?" Veronica's voice breaks into my thoughts.

I look up, startled, realizing that she's been chattering on about something or other for the last few minutes and that I heard absolutely none of it. "Oh, um, I agree. Completely."

Kathleen smirks at me from her seat across the table. "So you will talk to him then? Wonderful."

I stare at her, starting to think that maybe I should have checked what I was agreeing to before I did so. "Uh, wait, what? Talk to who?"

Veronica rolls her eyes. "Santa Clause. Who do you think, dumbo? Your cousin. You know, the one you've been hiding from and avoiding and the one who's making you mope about all over the place."

My fork clatters onto my plate. "What – I do not mope!"

Kathleen raises an eyebrow. "Sure you don't. And I'm the editor of the Quibbler."

"You do too mope," Veronica claims, ignoring Kathleen. "And so we've decided that you need to talk to your cousin, for the good of our entire dorm."

I huff angrily. "I don't mope," I mutter again. "I just – I like going off to think about things on my own, all right?"

Now it's Kathleen's turn to roll her eyes. "Whatever you want to call it. Point is, you're not going to be happy until you've at least said hi to him, and much as it pains me to say this – " She pulls a face, and her next sentence comes out so quickly I can barely understand it. "Ilikeyoubeinghappy."

I raise my eyebrows at her. "Sorry? Didn't quite catch that."

Kathleen sighs heavily. "I. Like. You. Being. Happy." She doesn't look too happy about it, though, judging by the scowl on her face.

Veronica giggles. "So why do you look so upset at the thought of it?"

"It makes me sound like a Hufflepuff," Kathleen says, looking disgusted. "All friendly, and loving, and – _nice._ " She shudders. "No offence, but I can't stand eternal optimism."

"I'll bear that in mind," I say dryly. "No optimism, got it."

My hopes of directing the conversation to the topic of Kathleen's dislike for showing niceness are dashed, however, when Veronica puts her silverware down with a clatter. "Well, no time like the present."

I stare at her again. I feel like I've been doing that a lot tonight. "Uh, for what?"

She swings her legs over the bench. "For talking to your cousin, of course! Come on."

I pull my hand away from where she's trying to grab for it, and shake my head emphatically. "I did not sign up for this."

"Oh, but you did," Kathleen says in a deceptively sweet tone. "As far as I recall, your exact words were 'I agree completely'."

I let my head fall to the table with a dull thunk. "I need to learn to think before I speak," I mutter to myself. Then, as Veronica tugs on my sleeve again, I look up at her and cross my arms. "I'm not talking to him here. Not in front of the entire school. At least let me wait until I can get him on his own."

"So you will talk to him!" Kathleen says triumphantly.

I sigh. "Only to get you lot off my back." I won't admit it to them, but I am actually a bit relieved that the decision's been made. At least this way if we do end up arguing, I can just blame the others girls for making me talk to him in the first place.

Our conversation turns to other topics, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that maybe the girls will forget about making me talk to him tonight. We have homework to do, after all, and I'd rather like to get it done before the weekend. Not that I can even convince myself that that's an adequate excuse. But I like to try. Maybe I can just put this conversation off until tomorrow, get a good night's sleep first and all that. I mean, it's the end of our first week at Hogwarts, he's probably tired too and has work to do, I'm sure he'd appreciate it if I didn't bother him now…

When we stand up to leave, I almost think they've forgotten about it, because there's no mention of my talking to Al as we pass the Gryffindor table. I almost hold my breath until we're out into the Entrance Hall. Veronica and Kathleen were eagerly discussing the possibility of somehow sneaking onto the Quidditch team – well, Kathleen was plotting it and Veronica was nodding along – but as we reach the stairs down to the dungeons, Kathleen makes some excuse of needing to go check on something and vanishes back into the crowd of students that are still milling around at the foot of the main staircase. I look after her, surprised by her abrupt disappearance.

"Where's she gone?"

"Oh, she needed to go see about something," Veronica says casually. "Anyway, what do you say we get our homework and then go up to the library? I'd like to get that essay for Transfiguration done earlier rather than later."

I nod in agreement, although I'm still wondering what was so urgent that Kathleen couldn't even tell me where she was going. "Okay, sure. I've still got an Astronomy chart to finish as well. And a lot of other things as well..."

I mentally run over my homework in my mind, realizing exactly how much of it I haven't actually done yet. Hmm. Maybe going to the library would be a good idea.

After several flights of stairs, endless corridors, and not a small amount of bickering about whether or not the Transfiguration homework we were given actually needs to be completed by Monday, Veronica and I finally find ourselves entering the library. I immediately head over towards the Astronomy section, wanting to get my chart done first since it's the easiest thing on my list, but Veronica tugs on my bag.

"Can't we go do Potions first? I really need to find that list of ingredients, and you said you knew which book it was in. Please?"

"Anything to put off dealing with Transfiguration, huh?" I tease her. "Fine, I'll help you with Potions." As she leads the way to the Potions shelves, though, I bite my lip. "Hold on, why are you suddenly so excited about Potions? I thought you said after that lesson about cleaning cauldrons and equipment that Potions was the most boring class ever and you wanted to drop it next week."

Veronica shrugs, suddenly refusing to look me in the eye. "I, uh, just want to get it out of the way quickly, that's all."

I give her another suspicious look, but allow her to pull me down to the Potions section. As we turn down one of the aisles, I notice Kathleen coming towards us again, a smug grin on her face. I stop in the middle of the library, putting my hands on my hips.

"Okay, what is going on? Veronica's getting all excited about Potions, of all things, and now Kathleen looks like she accidentally swallowed Cheering Cheese, and you two are being awfully quiet all of a sudden..."

I trail off, realizing that they're completely ignoring my rant. Instead, they appear to be attempting to learn sign language very very quickly. Veronica raises her eyebrows questioningly, nodding her head in my direction, and Kathleen nods sharply. She points back over her shoulder, and Veronica holds up two fingers, then one. Kathleen shakes her head, raises three fingers, and then holds it to her lips. And I'm looking from one of them to the other, trying to figure out what on earth is going on. It doesn't exactly look like they're non-verbally discussing how long it's going to take us to complete our homework.

Kathleen turns to me with a bright smile, and I narrow my eyes at her. I haven't seen her look that cheerful since the morning she managed to take the last pancake from right under Elizabeth's nose. Somehow, I really don't think homework is the cause of this.

"What are you two – " I start to demand, and then I break off sharply, staring down the aisle at the people who've just appeared at the end of it. Two blond heads and a dark one. Al is arguing with the Scamander twins as they walk down the rows of books towards us, but he hears my startled gasp and looks up, breaking off his own sentence in turn as he meets my eyes. The two of us stare at each other for a moment.

"Right then, Lorcan and I will just be off down here," Lysander says loudly, tugging at his twin's sleeve. "See you in a minute, Al."

He starts to back off down the aisle, but not before winking quickly. I wonder for a moment why he's winking at me, and then catch Kathleen giving him a thumbs-up in the corner of my eye. I whirl to face her.

"You – you totally set this up! I don't believe it."

Kathleen smirks. "It's not like you were actually going to do anything on your own. Face it, my dear, you need someone to direct you in the right direction. And that direction would currently be towards the person you've been avoiding all week."

I glare at her, trying hard not to tap my fingers or bite my lip. Just because I'm nervous doesn't mean I need to show it. But before I can utter any more recriminations, Kathleen and Veronica have turned and vanished among the shelves in turn, leaving me on my own with the one person I've been trying not to talk to. I gape after them for a moment, and then slowly turn, wanting to speak to Al and yet not wanting to see him at the same time. His bright green eyes meet my brown ones, but I can only hold his gaze for a moment before I look at the floor. There's an awkward silence, and I'm not sure I can be the one to break it. Thankfully, my cousin does so for me.

"Hi."

I look up again, glancing briefly at him and then letting my gaze flit away again, roaming over the book titles I can see. "Um, hello."

"You know, I've always thought you looked good in green," Al says quietly.

I stare at him again, noting that he doesn't appear to be upset or angry or even looking betrayed, which was what I was afraid of most. No, instead he's got a small smile on his face, and is looking – hopeful?

"You – you think?" I ask uncertainly, still not quite sure of where this is going.

Al nods firmly. "Green totally suits you."

I look at him for a moment longer, and then I can hear all the things he's not saying the things I was afraid he wouldn't say, but I can see them in his face, and I fling myself at him, giving him a tight hug. "I missed you," I mumble into his robes.

Al laughs, squeezing me tightly. "You're silly sometimes, Rosie."

I resist the urge to roll my eyes at that stupid nickname. "Thanks."

Al pulls back and grins at me, knowing that I'm not just thanking him for teasing me. "You've been avoiding me, you know."

I look down at the ground again, feeling some of the awkwardness return. "Um, sorry."

"Just don't do it again, okay?" Al says. "We may not be best mates, but you're still my cousin, Rose, and I still care about you. Don't freak out about talking to me, okay?"

"I was more worried about you freaking out, to be honest," I mumble.

Al looks surprised. "Why would I freak out?"

I indicate my Slytherin tie, which looks rather dark in comparison to his bright red and gold one. Al still seems to be a bit puzzled, and then his face darkens. "Fred's an idiot, ignore him."

I give a small laugh. "Yeah, that's what Roxy said."

"Well, that settles it, then," Al says firmly. "We all know which of those two inherited Auntie Angelina's common sense."

I laugh outright this time. "So… you don't hate me then?" I ask after a moment.

"Of course not. I could never hate you. And don't worry about Fred, he'll come round. And if he doesn't, I'll help you prank him. And I'm sure we can convince Dominique to join in too."

Everyone in the family is sure that Dominique was actually intended to be George's daughter – not even James has gotten up to as much mischief as she has, and when she puts her head together with Roxy, then the two of them make a force to be reckoned with. If they're on my side, though, then I feel like I can face anything the rest of the family throws at me. I say as much to Al, and he nods.

"I can tell them to send Uncle Ron a letter, if you like."

I shake my head violently. "No, don't, you remember what happened the last time they sent one of their 'letters'. Uncle Percy wasn't able to get the feathers out of his hair for a week. I don't need Dad getting any more upset than he already is."

My voice falls again, and Al pulls me into a one-armed hug. "Relax, Rosie, it'll be fine. If I know Aunt Hermione, she'll be talking his ear off about being an idiot, and he'll eventually come round just to shut her up."

I can't hide a small laugh, but I'm still thinking about that Howler I got. "He thinks I'm a disgrace to the family, Al, he said so. All of Hogwarts knows he said so."

Al winces at the bitter tone in my voice. "Well, I think he needs to rethink his definition of family, then. I, for one, do not consider you a disgrace, nor do Roxy or Dom or Louis or Victoire or James, and Fred's just being thick at the moment. Just give him a chance to cool down. And write to your mum, you don't have to write to him but if he can see that you're happy with where you are then maybe he'll see that it doesn't matter."

I nod slowly. "Okay. I just hope he's over it by Christmas, I don't fancy going home to find him throwing me out or something."

Al raises his eyebrows. "You really think Nan would let that happen? She'll throw him out, won't let him come to Christmas dinner, and you know how much your dad loves Nan's cooking."

I'm still not entirely convinced, but my mood has lightened a little, and being able to talk to Al again feels great. We leave the topic of my Sorting and my dad's reaction to it behind, instead going over the details of our classes and how our experience at the castle has been so far and anything and everything we can think of. Before I know it, the librarian is chasing us out into the corridor, declaring that the library is now closed for the night and that we should have been in bed ages ago.

I look around the deserted corridor, wondering for the first time in a while where my friends disappeared to. The last I saw of them, they were following Lorcan and Lysander in the direction of the Charms section, but I assume they're left the library by now. I pause, another thought striking me.

"Al, you do realize they set this whole thing up, right?"

Al nods. "I figured. I did think it was a bit odd when Lysander was trying to convince me to come help with homework."

I laugh. "He and Kathleen must have worked it out between them." Then the grin on my face takes on a decidedly sneaky quality. "Hah, can't wait to ask her about that. I mean, she actually had to conspire with a Hufflepuff, I don't know how she managed to get through it."

"Why, does she not like Hufflepuffs or something?"  
I shrug. "She can't stand their 'eternal optimism', apparently."

Al laughs. "They are rather cheerful, yes. Anyway, I should probably go back to the common-room, it's nearly curfew."

I nod. "Uh, yeah, guess I should too." We stare at each other for a moment, not sure exactly how to say goodbye. Finally, Al gives me a grin.

"See you round, yeah? Say hello every once in a while."

I smile in return. "Okay. Sleep well, cousin."

"You too."

A while later, I've finally reached the Slytherin girls' dorms, and I enter our dorm to find Caroline already sound asleep. The sounds from the bathroom seem to indicate that Elizabeth has decided to take a shower, and Kathleen is perched cross-legged on her bed, the hangings drawn back for once. Veronica has joined her, and the two of them are bent over a piece of parchment, muttering to each other. I clear my throat.

"Oh, Rose!" Veronica says, looking up. "I didn't hear you come in. So, I'm going to assume that you actually talked to him?"

I nod. "Been talking the whole time, actually. I don't know why I was worrying so much, he didn't seem to be upset at all."  
"There's a scientific explanation for that," Kathleen says pleasantly. "You're thick."

I huff. "Thanks for that. Anyway, I meant to ask – how did you manage it? Having to actually plot and plan with a Hufflepuff, I'm surprised Lysander didn't suffocate you with his niceness."

Kathleen flops back against her pillows. "Eh, he wasn't too bad. Bit shy, but he made Lorcan help. It got you to stop looking like someone drowned your favourite puppy, so it worked."

"If I'm not mistaken, you're actually showing some emotions," I tease, moving over to my bed to change. "Careful there, you'll have me thinking you care."

Kathleen shrugs, a difficult feat to perform while snuggling up in a pile of cushions, but still one she manages successfully. "Don't get used to it." Then she suddenly sits bolt upright, nearly knocking Veronica off the bed. "Oh gosh, I hope he's not going to expect me to keep talking to him after this."

I repress the desire to laugh at the look of horror on her face. "Don't worry, I think you'll be fine. Just continue being your usual sarcastic, heartless self, and he won't bother you."

Kathleen heaves a huge sigh of relief. "I hope not. Can't have a Hufflepuff thinking I actually want to talk to them."

Veronica clambers off the bed, rolling her eyes. "Oh, no, that would be a calamity."

The heavy sarcasm in her voice sets me off into a fit of giggles, and after a moment, Kathleen joins in as well. Elizabeth comes out of the bathroom to find the three of us howling with laughter, although Caroline is somehow managing to sleep through it all.

"What's so funny?" Elizabeth asks.

"Nothing, nothing," Veronica says, still giggling. "Kathleen just doesn't want the world to know that she likes people, that's all."

Elizabeth still looks a bit askance, but she lets it go, and after a moment we managed to calm down enough to start getting ready for bed ourselves. I climb between my sheets with a happy sigh. It's been a long day, and an even longer week, but I'm feeling happier than I have been since that envelope burst into flames in front of me. My friends might be meddling busybodies who like sticking their noses into all sorts of things, but I suppose I can forgive them. And maybe even enlist their help for something I've been considering for a few days…

I drift off to sleep with thoughts of Al and Roxy and Dom and conspiring and that spell Howard told us about floating around in my head.


	7. Chapter 7

I don't talk to Al that much over the next few days, mainly because he's up on the 7th floor and I'm down in the dungeons and our two groups don't have all that much interaction. Then it's the second week of term, and I'm still so bewildered by all the classes we have that finding time to search out my cousin is a bit tricky. But we wave at each other across the Great Hall, and say hello if we happen to pass in the corridor, and all in all I can tell that we're okay. I run into all of my other cousins at various intervals during the week as well, and it goes a lot better than I expected.

Roxy is the first to talk to me since I was forced into talking to Al (I still find it hilarious that Kathleen plotted all that, but that's another topic) – well, to be strictly honest, she searches me out the next day and proceeds to chatter about anything and everything she can think of. It's a bit overwhelming, but then, that's Roxy, and at least I know that she's talking to me.

Her twin still isn't. I run into Fred in the Entrance Hall on Sunday afternoon. Quite literally. I had just turned to say something over my shoulder to Veronica, and he was running in from outside, and we kind of tripped over each other's feet. He doesn't say anything to me at all, though – just stands up, gives me one of the hardest glares I've ever seen, and then stalks off up the stairs. I look after him for a moment, and then head back over to my friends, determined to learn that colour-changing spell from Howard as soon as possible. Fred won't know what hit him.

Victoire, as a prefect in her final year, is so terribly busy already that I mainly just catch glimpses of her blonde ponytail vanishing down corridors, but when we get lost Monday afternoon on our way to class she gives me a smile and points us in the right direction, and I know that while she may not have time to talk to me, she's still not going to ostracise me. Nor are her siblings – Dom loudly introduces me to her best friend, Sophie, and Louis stops by to say hello when he finds me in the library. By Thursday afternoon, the only one of my cousins I haven't had a chance to say anything to yet is James.

Thursday afternoon, however, happens to be the day of our first flying lesson, which we'll be taking with the Gryffindors. Al assured me at breakfast that morning that James and some of the other Quidditch players were intending to come down and watch - "looking for new talent for the team and trying to suss out the opposition" as Al put it. Whatever their motive, though, I know I'll have a chance to talk to James that afternoon, so when Veronica and Kathleen and I head out of the castle after lunch, I'm feeling lighthearted and happy. My good mood drops a bit though when we reach the lawn where our lesson is due to take place – either Al didn't realize, or he didn't tell me, but I didn't know that the other Quidditch players would include Fred. He is one of the Beaters, and from everything I've heard slated to become Quidditch Captain for Gryffindor after Jamie Wood graduates next year, but I wasn't expecting to see him here, and I'm momentarily nervous. What if I mess up, or can't fly at all, or do something stupid, and he laughs at me? Then I take a deep breath. It doesn't matter what Fred thinks, I tell myself firmly. He obviously doesn't care about you. Why should you care about him? His opinion doesn't matter at all.

With this pep talk firmly fixed in my mind, I line up with the other students next to the row of brooms, and wait for Madam Robins to arrive. She took over as Quidditch Ref at the castle a few years ago, a move that shocked all the papers – Demelza Robins was a household name for her prowess with the Tutshill Tornadoes, and giving up her Chasing career in order to teach was something no one really expected. But on all counts she's a great teacher, and I'm tingling all over at the thought of finally meeting her.

When she finally comes towards us from the broom shed, I can't restrain a little gasp of surprise. She doesn't look anywhere near as grand on the ground as she did in the air, and I'm trying to mentally reconcile the image I have of the star Quidditch player, doing loops above the pitch and flying with an energy I've seen in few others, with this quiet woman walking towards us. She just looks – normal. As she comes to a half in front of us, though, I can see a sharp look in her eye, and the smile on her face is strong and confident. I gulp. She doesn't look like someone I'd want to cross.

Despite my nervousness at actually flying in front of Demelza Robins and the fact that I can feel Fred's eyes on me way more often than I'd like, the lesson still goes rather well. I've been on a broom before, of course – I couldn't have grown up in my father's house without practically having Quidditch stuffed down my throat. But this is the first time I've tried to ride a proper-sized broom, and it proves to be quite a bit trickier than the children's brooms I used to play with. By the end of the lesson, though, I've managed to make the broom go up, hover, and come back down without throwing me off, and I'm rather proud of that accomplishment. The rest of my classmates are experiencing varying levels of difficulty – Kathleen appears to be giving her broom a stern talking to, Elizabeth has firmly planted her feet on the ground and is ignoring the broom hovering next to her, and I can see Adam down at the other end of the row picking himself up off the ground again. Not everyone's having problems, though – Veronica is gently turning her broom in a slow arc, looking nervous but excited, and one of the other Slytherin boys – Peter, I think his name is – is already trying to reverse. Then some movement catches my eye, and I turn to see Al and Scorpius hovering in mid-air, facing each other. Al leans forward and says something I don't catch, and Scorpius gives a short laugh before retorting with something else. For a moment, I'm wondering if they're about to start an argument 20 feet above the ground, and then they both slowly pull back on their brooms, drifting higher and higher. I frown, squinting a bit to try and make out the looks on their faces. Are they – smiling?

By now, the whole class has stopped wrestling with their brooms and is watching the two boys, who are still rising. I think they're trying to see who can go higher, judging by the occasional whoop of excitement I can hear when one or the other of them gains a little height. They're nearly 50 feet up now, and I swallow nervously as I realize what could happen if they fell. Please don't do anything stupid, I think to myself, and I don't know whether it's Al or Scorpius that I'm trying to send the message to.

Madam Robins, however, seems to have had the same thoughts as I did, because she blows her whistle sharply. "All right, boys, that's enough, come down now!"

Albus and Scorpius stop rising, and just hang there for a moment, looking at each other. Then Scorpius says something, and I can see Al nod. Next second, they've both tilted their brooms forward, and are flying back down at what seems an impossible speed. I can hear Veronica gasp behind me. "They're going to crash!"

I narrow my eyes, seeing the tension in Al's body and how straight his dive is. "No, they're not."

And they don't – a few feet short of hitting the ground, they pull their brooms up in unison, coming to a sharp stop. Then they drift back down the rest of the way, grinning broadly. Almost immediately, the Gryffindor first years surround Al, pounding him on the back and asking in awe and wonder where he learned to do that. Scorpius, too, is surrounded by people as soon as he dismounts, but as the two Houses separate, I can see the boys look across at each other. Blue eyes meet green, and a quick smile flashes between them before they each turn back to their respective classmates. I cross my arms. That was not the sort of thing I expected to see from two boys who rarely interacted.

I'm pulled out of my thoughts by Veronica tugging on my sleeve. "Rose? Rose! The lesson's over, are you coming?"

I give my head a little shake, pushing my suspicions to the back of my mind, and smile at her. "Uh, yeah, of course." Before we leave the lawn, though, I can't help looking over to where the Gryffindor team is still waiting around. As my eyes fall on Fred, he looks up, and for a moment we just look at each other. I don't say anything, and neither does he – and then Kate Jordan asks him something and he turns to answer her, breaking eye contact. I sigh. I thought that maybe I could at least say hello, but I guess that's not going to happen today.

Kathleen and Veronica are eagerly discussing the lesson as we walk back up to the castle, going over how awful the school brooms are and debating what sort of broom they'd like to get once they're allowed to bring one. I join in half-heartedly, but part of my mind is still puzzling over Al and Scorpius. Surely they don't know each other well enough to act like that, especially not to fly in sync like they did. I resolve to confront one or both of them about it at the nearest opportunity. I absolutely hate not knowing things.

The nearest opportunity happens along just after dinner. At Kathleen's prodding, I'd managed to finish up most of my homework after our flying lesson, so when we head back down to the Slytherin common-room that evening I decide that I can't be bothered to do the rest. It's just a short essay for Herbology which isn't due until Monday anyway, I can just as easily write it tomorrow. I make a beeline for the bookshelves as soon as we step through the sliding wall. I'm in the middle of a book about a witch who tries to integrate herself into the Muggle world for a year in order to learn more about how they work, and she's currently in the process of falling in love with her co-worker but she hasn't told him about her magic yet, and he's becoming somewhat suspicious of her. I need to know what happens next, so I pull the book from the shelf and head over to my usual sofa by the fire. It isn't until I've dropped onto the emerald green cushions with a sigh that I realize that the sofa is already occupied.

Scorpius is sprawled against the arm of the sofa, a book lying forgotten on his lap, staring at the crackling flames. He doesn't seem to have noticed my arrival, and I curl up my legs to tuck my feet under myself before I clear my throat. He looks up, startled.

"Oh, Rose. Sorry, I didn't see you there."  
"I noticed. What are you reading?" I nod at the book in his hand.

"Oh, nothing," Scorpius says hastily, closing the book and leaning forward to put it in his bag, which is lying at the foot of the sofa. "Just a bit of, um, background reading for History of Magic."

I catch a glimpse of the title as he shoves it in with his other books, and frown. Why would he be reading _A Brief History of the Second Wizarding War_? As far as I recall, that wasn't on the syllabus for this year. But I let it go, deciding to call him on something else instead.

"So what exactly happened this afternoon?"

Scorpius shifts round until he's cross-legged, facing me. "What do you mean?"  
I roll my eyes. "You know what I mean. That little performance you and Al did. Where did that come from all of a sudden?"

Scorpius shrugs, not meeting my eyes. "We were just flying."

I cross my arms. "Scorpius, I've known Al my entire life. He's been flying on brooms since he was old enough to know what up, down, left, right meant, and he's definitely inherited both his parents' flying abilities. But he doesn't teach that dive he did to just anyone. And I've never seen anybody else get it right first go. So?"

Scorpius stares at me for a moment, mouth hanging slightly open, and then runs his hand through his hair, unconsciously mussing it up. "Um, well..."

I lean back expectantly. "Come on then, out with it, I haven't got all night. How do you know my cousin so well?"

"We played together at the Quidditch World Cup," Scorpius says quickly. "2014? Argentina? Your family was there for the whole tournament. So were we. Al and I kind of ran into each other on the first day, had a broom race – which I won, don't listen to what he says – and decided to play together for the rest of the week. He taught me things, I taught him things, and I might not have seen him for three years but I can still remember how to dive and brake."

Now it's my turn to gape. "You – so that's where Al kept vanishing to! No one knew what he was doing, not even Lorcan and Lysander could find him some afternoons. And all the while he was off flying with you?"

Scorpius nods quickly, glancing at me and then looking back at the fire again. "Um, yes?"

"That's awesome," I say firmly. "I can't believe you two kept that a secret. Especially from me, I can usually get anything out of Al if I want to. I'm impressed."

Scorpius laughs. "We weren't exactly sure what would have happened if our parents found out, we just sort of agreed to keep it under wraps. But it was fun." He contemplates the fire for a moment longer, then turns to smile directly at me. "I like your cousin."

I smile back. "Good. So do I." Then a thought crosses my mind, and I lean forward. "I've just decided something."

"What's that, then?" Scorpius asks, eyeing me warily. Maybe the smile I'm wearing isn't as innocent as I thought.

"I've decided that I have a plan. And that you need to help me with it."

"What sort of plan?"

The smile momentarily slides off my face. "A plan to stop my other cousin, the thick one, from being quite so full of himself."

"You mean Fred?" Scorpius says quietly. "I – I saw him talking to you that time last week, you know. In the Entrance Hall. And, well – " He pauses, and his eyes harden. "I didn't like the way he was talking to you. No one has the right to treat my friends like that."

I bite my lip. "So you're in?"

Scorpius nods. "I'm in. What are we going to do?"


End file.
